Mossman Central Mill Company Ltd

Incident description:

A worker was using an air grinder to finish repairing a shaft of a milling train at a sugar mill. The worker was holding the grinder at approximately chest height with his right hand operating the trigger and his left hand holding the top of the grinder. As he was grinding with a forward and back motion, his left wrist came into contact with the grinder, sustaining serious cuts.

Investigation findings:

The worker's hand was in close proximity to the operating parts of the grinder being used because the grinder had no handle attachment fitted to it. There was no reason for the handle to be detached. The grinder also had an inoperable trigger locking/release mechanism.

Considerations for prevention:

After the incident, the company did an audit of all the air grinders at the mill. Twenty-eight out of 42 grinders were found to be unserviceable. Action was taken to repair those that required servicing and those not able to be maintained were taken out of service. A program was implemented to ensure that plant (particularly hand tools) provided to workers were not only maintained, but used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.

Obligation holders should consider the requirements of the Plant Code of Practice 2005, in particular part 5.1 Risk management, part 5.14 Maintenance, servicing and cleaning and part 5.22 Instruction, training and supervising workers.

Court result:

The company was found guilty and fined $35,000 with no conviction recorded.

• Safe working in confined spaces
• Plant Code of Practice 2005